The savoury snack was found in the burial site of an ancient mayor called Ptahmes
What could be the oldest cheese in the world has been been discovered in a 3,000 year old tomb in Egypt.
Archaeologists from the University of Catania in Italy and University of Cairo in Egypt made the unexpectedly cheesy discovery when they were excavating the tomb of Ptahmes, who was mayor of Memphis in Egypt during the 13th century BC.
The cheese, which was found wrapped in canvas inside a broken jar, may be the oldest ever to be discovered.
The journal Analytical Chemistry described the ancient food as “probably the most ancient archaeological solid residue of cheese ever found to date”, and said it made with a mixture of sheep or goat and cows milk.
The ancient cheese was probably similar in consistency to soft goat’s cheese but with a “really, really acidy bite”,
Paul Kindstedt, a professor at the University of Vermont who studies the chemistry and history of cheese, told the New York Times that the ancient cheese was probably similar in consistency to soft goat’s cheese but with a “really, really acidy” bite.
“It would be high in moisture, it would be spreadable,” he said. “It would not last long, it would spoil very quickly.”
However, lovers of fromage are unlikely to get to taste this ancient sample any time soon, as the teams also discovered the presence of the bacteria Brucella melitensis in the cheese.
Brucella melitensis causes the rare but highly infectious disease brucellosis, also known as Malta fever, which can infect humans as well as animals. Symptoms can include fever, weakness and joint pain and last for as long as a year without proper treatment, and in very rare cases it can even lead to death. In goats and sheep, the disease can cause infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth or weak offspring.
Although this might not sound like good news, if confirmed the presence of the bacteria will provide the first direct evidence that brucellosis existed in Egypt 3,000 years ago.
SOURCE: mirror.co.uk
